Lotus Announces Theory 1 Concept Car, Complete With Manifesto

One of the many side effects of the growing visibilty of electric vehicles is a parade of intriguing-looking concept EVs. Genesis is particularly notable for this, but they aren’t alone — with Lotus banking on electric cars for its own future, it’s not surprising to see them getting in on the action. The Theory 1, Lotus’s first concept EV, isn’t arriving on its own; the automaker has thrown some guiding principles for its approach to EVs into the mix.

While Theory 1 has a sleek exterior design, one of the more compelling aspects of it has to do with the vehicle’s interior. Specifically, there’s what the automaker is calling Lotuswear, which involves a “soft and lightweight robotic textile material” that will add to the haptic experience of being behind the wheel. Lotus points to the wheel pulsing when a driver should turn left or right as one example of this functionality in action.

“With Theory 1, we’ve built on everything Lotus has achieved so far in its 76-year history, to push the boundaries for what it means to drive a performance vehicle,” said Lotus Group Vice President of Design Ben Payne in a statement. “We want to demonstrate that you don’t need to compromise — with both digital and analogue capabilities working harmoniously in the future car.”

As for the manifesto side of things, that’s covered by The Lotus Theory, which offers a trio of overarching principles — “Digital, Natural and Analogue” — to guide the automaker’s work. They aren’t the only motifs guiding the engineering of this concept car; Lotus also touts that it used just 10 “main A-surface materials” in developing the Theory 1.

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The Theory 1 draws on Lotus’s own history in interesting ways, including hearkening back more than half a century to the Lotus 49, famous for its groundbreaking role in Formula 1 vehicle design, for design cues designed to reduce its overall weight. It’s capable of going from 0 to 62 mph in 2.5 seconds, with an overall range of 250 miles. As with any concept car, now comes the real question: how much of the Theory 1 will make its way down to Lotus’s production vehicles?